O’Shea Wilson Siteworks is an award-winning landscape architecture studio based in Charlottesville, Virginia. We are dedicated to making meaningful places that engage local ecologies, function as habitat and create opportunities for vibrant human community.

We provide design constultation services for projects including university and college planning and design, corporate campus and offices, museum and culturall institutions, public parks and urban design and private gradens.

Through collaborations with architects, engineers, scientists and artists we develop high performance and site specific designs that go beyond sustainability towards regenerative, restorative and equitable solutions for our clients and their communities. We consistently create places that are biophilic, beautifully crafted and democratic.

We believe that designed places must be beautiful, universally accessible and inextricably linked to the natural and cultural history of the site. In all of our work we strive for the creation of memorable and sustaining human habitat. We develop work through an analytical and empathetic reading of the sites, systems and people with whom we work. We see our work as the outgrowth of a process that employs investigation, dialogue and creative expression to fuse the needs and desires of our clients with the inherent qualities and conditions of the places they inhabit.

Registered as a Micro business in Virginia (SWaM)

Registered as a Woman Owned Small Business in Virginia

 

Our Staff

Peter Joseph O’Shea ASLA FAAR LLA
Principal Designer and Co-Founder

Sara Catherine Wilson
Principal and Co-Founder

Alysha M. Thompson ASLA
Landscape Designer

 
 

Pete O'Shea ASLA FAAR, Principal

Pete is the co-founder of Siteworks and the leader of all design projects in the studio. Pete brings over twenty years of professional practice to the envisioning and development of holistic, innovative and creative approaches to design that effectively considers the ecological and cultural context of the practices work. His work merges art, architecture, engineering and landscape into a successful, effective and complete design approach that prioritizes concerns for ecological intelligence, human experience and thoughtful material assembly.

He is broadly experienced in the facilitation of community design efforts and workshops where collaborating with stakeholders is crucial to achieving a design project’s success. An excellent communicator and presenter, Pete has frequently spoken on the work of the studio to local, regional and national audiences. He has served on the faculty at the University of Virginia School of Architecture in both Architecture and Landscape Architecture and has guest taught and lectured at Penn State University, The University of Oregon, Catholic University, University of Maryland, Virginia Tech University, The University of Delaware, and The Ohio State University, where he was the Richard Trott Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture in 2000.

Pete is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Rome Prize in 1995. In 2007, he was named the Top Green Designer by the Virginia Sustainable Building Network. His projects have received awards for design excellence and sustainability from the ASLA, AIA, INFORM Magazine, The Bruner Foundation, The Building Stone Institute and the Virginia Chapters of the AIA and the ASLA. He is currently involved in public art and design projects in collaboration with The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative, the Piedmont Council of the Arts and The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. He serves on the development team for the restoration planning efforts for Richard Neutra’s Rice House in Richmond, VA, owned by the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation. He has served as a taskforce member and small team leader on the public urban design committees, arts planning efforts and on steering committees for major public projects in the Charlottesville area.

Pete is a member of the ASLA and USGBC and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome. He is a licensed landscape architect in the state of Virginia.

 
 

Sara Catherine Wilson, Principal

Sara Wilson is co-founder of Siteworks, and brings to the practice over twenty years of professional experience in the design of a wide range of projects from national park service work to private gardens. She has extensive experience in academic settings extending from her tenure as the assistant to the Landscape Architect for the University of Virginia, to more recent experience helping lead the development of design projects for UVa and Virginia Tech. Sara brings significant experience and focus to the integration of complex, achievable planting scenarios and to the effective coordination between design, implementation and continued care and maintenance.

Sara is the director of all studio management, project staffing and coordinates office and project communications. She leads studio efforts in negotiating and establishing contracts and project management and helps lead the internal quality control process to ensure the successful fulfillment of design intent through all phases of project development.

While at the University of Virginia’s Office of the Architect, she designed numerous projects for the University Grounds, and contributed to the planning and implementation of the University’s pioneering stormwater master plan, an innovative watershed approach to stormwater management. Earlier professional experience with DHM and Wenk Associates, both private landscape architecture firms in Denver, Colorado, included project design on a stormwater demonstration project for the Environmental Center of the Rockies, the preparation of design guidelines for The Historic Colfax Corridor through Denver and a master plan for employee housing at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Sara applies her professional experience as a volunteer coordinator for numerous garden projects at local schools.

 
 

Alysha M. Thompson ASLA

Alysha is a Project Manager and Designer at Siteworks.

 

Awards & Honors

 

2018

SCUP/ AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for Building Additions or Adaptive Reuse for Georgia Institute of Technology Glenn and Towers Residence Halls with VMDO Architects.

SCUP/ AIA-CAE Excellence iin Architecture for Rehabilitation, Restoration or Preservation for Washington and Lee Colonnade with Glave and Holmes Architects.

SCUP/ AIA-CAE Excellence in Architecture for a New Building for Virginia Wesleyan University Greer Environmental Sciences Center with VMDO Architects.

Arch Record “Good Design is Good Business” Award for Google 1212 Bordeaux with Parabola Architects.Sunnyvale, CA.

Design-Building Institute of America DBIA Western Regional Award for Google 1212 Bordeaux with Parabola Architects.

2017

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Conservationist of the Year for Virginia Wesleyan University Greer Environmental Sciences Center. Virginia Beach, VA.

VA ASLA Award of Merit for Design: Virginia Commonwealth University Pollak Roof Garden. Richmond, VA.

VA ASLA Award of Merit for Planning and Analysis:The Museum of The Shenandoah Valley. Winchester, VA.

VA ASLA Award of Merit for Planning and Analysis: Longwood University Campus Master Plan. Farmville, VA

2015

Pete O’Shea Elected as a Fellow of The American Society of Landscape Architects

VA ASLA Award of Merit for Design: New Cabell Hall Courtyard Transformation: The University of Virginia.

VA ASLA Award of Commendation for Design:Transforming the Urban Edge: VCU Honors College. Richmond, VA.

VA ASLA Award of Merit for Planning and Analysis: Modern/ History:Re-Inhabiting the Rice House. Richmond, VA

2014

Winner of the invited competition for campus planning and MSSD Residence Hall at Gallaudet University. Washington, DC. With Dangermond Keane Architects.

Architecture Record Good Design is Good Business Award. NASA Sustainability Base. Moffett Field, CA with William McDonough +Partners.

2013

VA ASLA Presidential Award of Excellence and the Community Service Honor Award :The StoryLine Project.

VA ASLA Merit Award for Design Excellence. The Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Charlottesville, VA.

2012

Building Stone Institute Tucker Award: Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Charlottesville, VA.

2011

National ASLA Honor Award: Manassas Park Elementary School Landscape

Katerva Award Nomination. NASA Sustainability Base. Moffett Field, CA.

Center for Environmental Innovation Award. NASA Sustainability Base. Moffett Field, CA

GreenGov Presidential Award. NASA Sustainability Base. Moffet Field, CA

ENR California, Best Projects of 2011, Award of Mer2010

COTE Top Ten Green Project for Excellence in Sustainable Design for Manassas Park Elementary.

Silicon Valley Best Green Project for NASA Sustainability Base. NASA Ames. Moffett Field, CA.

Excellence in Architecture, AIA Virginia, Manassas Park Elementary, Manassas, VA

Excellence in Architecture, AIA Virginia, Jefferson Scholars Foundation, Charlottesville, VA

Excellence in Landscape Architectural Achievement, City of Palo Alto Architectural Review Board for Vmware Campus

2009

Silver Medal Rudy Bruner Urban Excellence Award for The Community Chalkboard. Charlottesville, VA

ASLA Honor Award for Planning & Analysis for Rockefeller Park Strategic Planning. Cleveland, OH

Virginia ASLA Honor Award for Design for John Paul Jones Arena. Charlottesville, VA

Inform Design Award: Community Chalkboard and Podium. Charlottesville, VA

Inform Design Award: McGuffey Park Restoration. Charlottesville, VA

Inform Design Award: Averett University Stormwater Court. Danville, VA

2008

Finalist: From the Ground Up Housing Competition. Syracuse, NY

with Erdy McHenry Architects and Tim Stenson

Inform Award of Excellence in Design: John Paul Jones Arena Landscape. Charlottesville, VA

Building Stone InstituteTucker Award: Community Chalkboard and Podium. Charlottesville, VA

2007

Pete O’Shea selected for Innovation Award for Best Green Designer by Virginia Sustainable Building Network

Virginia ASLA Merit Award: Community Chalkboard and Podium. Charlottesville, VA

Society for College and University Planning Merit Award for Excellence in Architecture:

New Building for Averett Student Commons. Danville, VA with VMDO Architects

POLLSTAR Concert Industry Award for Best New Venue for JPJ Arena. Charlottesville, VA

Selected for inclusion in The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design

exhibit at the National Building Museum: Greenbridge. Chapel Hill, NC

2006

AIA Central Virginia Chapter Award: Bison High Performance Courtyard Banff, Alberta, Canada with William McDonough + Partners

Winner of Fort Collier Design Competition. Winchester, VA with Reader & Swartz Architects

Winner of Design Competition for the Civic Core of Belvedere. Charlottesville, VA with Hays + Ewing Design Studio

2005

AIA Northern Virginia Chapter Award: Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum. Winchester, VA with Reader & Swartz Architects

AIA James River Chapter Award: Ernie Morgan Environmental Action Center. Norfolk, VA with Watershed Architects

2004

Virginia AIA Award of Honor: Barn Complex. Albemarle County, VA with VMDO Architects

2002

Slip Garden. Finalist for 55 Water Street Elevated Plaza International Design Competition;

included in national exhibit at The Urban Center: New York, NY

2001

First Honorable Mention in 13-Acres International Design Competition. East Clayton, British Columbia

1997

Finalist: Seibert Circle International Public Art Competition. Accumulation and Dispersal. Vail, CO

1996

Greenport International Waterfront Design Competition

entry selected for inclusion in exhibition at The Van Alen Institute. New York, NY

1995

Pete O’Shea awarded Rome Prize Fellowship in Landscape Architecture. American Academy in Rome

CONTACT

 

702 Ridge St. Charlottesville, VA 22902

(434) 923-8100

swilson@siteworks-studio.com